“No live
organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of
absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.
Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness
within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.
Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and
doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone
of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”Y

Scratches: the word alone
makes me uneasy. It brings to mind a nagging irritation that one knows
all too soon will need to be dealt with, lest it should fester, grow,
evolve into something worse. Agustin Cordes and Alejandro Graziani, along
with their development group “Nucleosys,” have taken this idea into the
realm of adventure gaming. Their new game, Scratches,
published in the United States by Got Game Entertainment is due to slither
its way onto store shelves in early March, infecting and consuming
adventure gamers everywhere. Is the game worth the long wait? Does it hold
up to what’s out there now? We shall see….

Even the loading screen, a colorless graphic
of a decrepit house and eerie sound effects, set the tone for what is to
come. The opening scenes of disjointed photos hung in a darkroom
all-askew, the melancholy tune as though it were emanating from an old
Victrola. All this, encompassed within the view of a sepia toned rough cut
16mm film, sets the stage for the mystery yet to unfold. The screen fades
to black, and then John Bell’s deeply polished voice narrates the opening
soliloquy for this new point-and-click adventure, alone without benefit of
visuals as though the character was deep in thought, recalling to mind
some traumatic event from a recent memory. We are swept up into the past
as the first cutscene fades up. The tense and slightly off-kilter musical
underscore sets the tone for apprehension against the sinister backdrop of
the sprawling English Manor House and its grounds. We watch the movement
of an old automobile trolling along the fog laden drive through the wooded
underbrush toward Blackwood Manor. The camera pulls away to a “virtual”
crane or overhead shot of the rural landscape. The morning sun is still
too weak to fight its way through the impenetrable miasma below. Yet the
house is there, ever present and all knowing of the events of its past and
the menacing probabilities of its future.

As Hill House was to Shirley Jackson’s
classic ghost story, The Haunting of Hill House, so too, Blackwood
Manor rears its menacing tower and gables through the murky gloom in
defiance of the rising sun. The auto slowly makes its way to the spiked
iron gates of its appointed destination and we are reminded of the 1963
motion picture version of The Haunting where Lenore Vance arrives
at the gates of Hill House in a curiously similar dilapidated auto. The
final shot of this cutscene in Scratches actually
took my breath away, as the camera angle is a perfect “long shot” from
behind the roof of the car, through the opened gates to the house. This is
representative of what is yet to come…. The protagonist enters, inveigled
by misrepresentation, to cure the evil within.

At the end of the cutscene the gamer views his
first full glimpse of the Manor dead-on, and we immediately realize a few
things: that we have been projected into the past; that we will view
everything from the eyes of the narrator, who is a writer (“have
typewriter; will travel”); and that we are in possession of the key to
Blackwood Manor provided by someone named Jerry. The rest of the story is
ours to figure out. Now, if you are wise (as I know all of you are)
you’ll take the time to read the accompanying manual, which holds more of
the back story, including a small personality study for all characters
past and present.

Those of you who know me, also know how I
approach adventures such as Scratches. I feel that
setting the mood and how one prepares oneself for gameplay is just as
important as the piece itself; for what you bring to interactive
entertainment will color your experience. So, a clean pad and litepen at
my left, and sustenance to my right (for most horror games I usually
choose a nice merlot along with a plate of seedless grapes, some slices of
apple laced with lemon juice and a few wedges of Camembert and Brie),
and stereo headphones aide me in my preparation for an evening of horrific
delights. I light a few pillar candles as I wait for sunset and the
darkness to fall. It is only with this stage set that I can put myself
into the right frame of mind to begin my journey.

In 1963 the owner of Blackwood Manor, one
James Blackwood, allegedly murdered his wife Catherine in a seeming fit of
insanity. Not too long afterward he succumbed to a heart attack, although
it is said that it may very well have been a suicide. For some odd reason,
the authorities have allowed the case to go cold and then closed the
files. The property was then passed into the hands of the couple’s dear
friend, Dr. Christopher Milton, sometime during 1964. Not very much is
known about poor Dr. Milton, but he has been spoken of in the locals’
covert whisperings as “one who likes his drink far too much for his own
good.” By 1970, Dr. Milton mysteriously vanishes, leaving the Manor
abandoned, and it is subsequently taken over by The National Trust.

Enter a new murder/mystery author, one Michael
Arthate, who purchases Blackwood Manor and its grounds via his friend and
real estate agent, Jerry Carter -- obsequiously played by none other than
Jonathan Boakes of Dark Fall fame. The year is now 1976 and Michael
has arrived at Blackwood Manor to take possession of his prize: a
Victorian Manor House replete with rolling landscapes and fog drenched
hills to wander through, while contemplating intricate plot expositions
for the mystery thrillers he hopes to write.

Throughout the game, Michael’s thoughts are
revealed through text at the bottom of the screen – a silently spoken
running monologue as though we, the gamers, are part of his mind. Knowing
Michael (I now feel free to say this after playing the game through many
times) and his complete and utter exuberance in realizing the potential
stories that the abandoned Greenhouse, the Stone Chapel and the ancient
Crypt, not to mention the Manor House might hold for him to bring to life
through the written word…what was the saying? “Be careful what you wish
for... it may very well come true.y”
This is also known in “Classical Drama” as hubris. And there is much of
that in Scratches.

Blackwood Manor holds many secrets. Who were James and Catherine
Blackwood? Why the excessive fascination for the artifacts that James
collected? Who were the Dhalmaar? What really happened to The Blackwood
family all those years ago? Why did a seemingly empty house hold such a
sinister malevolent atmosphere? And, for pity’s sake…what the heck are
those strange noises emanating from somewhere below?

As the game unfolds, the tale bends and twists
as only true psychological horror can. There was a constant feeling of
malaise as I wandered (and sometimes tried to run) through the game’s
environments. An ever-present feeling of solitude (at times the silence
became quite deafening) occasionally gave way to a single-minded yearning
to discover the mystery surrounding the Manor. Psychological effects --
particularly the use of “overhang” and “tunnel vision” -- served to evoke
a feeling of dread and claustrophobia during certain key scenes.
Absolutely scrumptious.

When the scenes of the adventure
shifted to outside the Manor house, I swear I could feel a chill around my
shoulders and the cold damp against my brow. Alejandro Graziani’s work
does more than just articulate points of reference for the gamer to
interact with, more than just pleasant realistic worlds for us to view.
Indeed, I found his talents lie in the ability to breathe life into his
pre-rendered graphics -- a life quite realistic though ever so slightly
skewed. The palette of the game itself is overcast and muted with the
colder colors of the spectrum, denoting pain and bitterness, sorrow and
wistful recantation; a reflection of the inner psyches of those now dead.
The delicate intricacies and textures of the Manor house and its contents
all meld together in perfect discord, and sagaciously put the gamer on
edge. It’s little wonder that as we move from room to room and floor to
floor we purposefully turn the camera’s view around, fully expecting to
catch a glimpse of something watching us in the shadows…just out of our
peripheral vision – though nothing is there. It is this haunting
atmosphere that adds to and heightens apprehension…in the night…in the
dark….

The underscore written and performed by Cellar of Rats for
Scratches does much to add to the mysterious ambiance and dark
fabric of the game -- and works well with the somber palette. These
musical interpretations of emotion color the story with forlorn and muted
tones. Have you ever been able to feel fear or terror through music and
movement? Agustin Cordes and his talented team show us how. There was a
point in time where I thought I was going to fall off the rain drenched
roof of the Manor... here the music allows the gamer to "feel" the action,
a sort of musical adrenalin rush. Excruciatingly delicious.

The voice acting for the two major characters in
Scratches is worthy of note. The voice of Michael Arthate,
deftly played by John Bell, holds a certain refreshing effervescence, and
gives the character an obsessive quality; Michael is portrayed as someone
compelled to uncover the mystery at Blackwood Manor at any cost. Jonathan
Boakes as Michael’s friend Jerry Carter “the voice of reason” is a perfect
foil as the supportive character.

Oddly
enough, though there are many obvious scares throughout the adventure;
there was one subtle moment, which caught me truly unawares. I’m speaking
of the innocuous music box scene, in which a seemingly harmless childhood
plaything is wound with a key. It then plays a simple bittersweet melody
that slowly changes key and twists itself into something dark and macabre.
It stayed with me long after into the night and still haunts my dreams.
Thanks, Agustin, and my analyst thanks you as well.

The
closing theme for Scratches’ credits, written by
Daniel Cordes, I found to be melancholic and poignant, with a feeling of
finality about it. Is it a refection of Michael’s own fears and self-doubt
about his unfinished novel? Or is it mirroring the inside of the abandoned
Manor...the forgotten lives echoing through these walls and disturbing the
various trappings, now empty and without comfort of human touch?

“Well why not? The world is full of
inconsistencies.

Full of unnatural beings, nature's
mistakes they call you for instance!”Y

Gameplay

The game itself takes place
over a span of a short weekend and is divided into three days. There is
Michaels’s Saturday morning arrival followed by the typical problems one
faces when one purchases a “white elephant.” The water is turned off and
there are rusted pipes. There is no electricity either – and a proposed
electrician (provided by Michael’s friend Jerry Carter) seems quite
elusive. There are a few “time wasting” puzzle tasks such as candle
hunting, which culminates in a dead battery. This spans blithely
throughout the first third of the game. Soon, isolation sets in -- along
with tidbits of information about the previous owners. Curiosity gets the
better of Michael -- he begins to delve deeper and deeper into the dark
secrets of his newly acquired abode.

Now, while I have no intention of giving away any actual tidbits of the
game itself, I will tell you that of the many clocks within the adventure,
the one to gauge your watch by is the grandfather clock in the main
hall—it’s the only working timepiece. I found the game to be primarily
nonlinear. However, there are certain tasks you must accomplish during
each of the three days, so I would check the clock in the hall to gauge
your progress. If there is something that you can't do that day, Jerry
will let you know via the antique phone in the hall. But remember this: it
is the choices that you make as Michael that will color the outcome of
this adventure, so I advise you to open your mind and pay attention to
everything.

I played Scratches
multiple times -- my shortest playing time was six hours and longest was
sixteen. You may play the game in one of two modes: 360-degree panning
mode or slideshow. I suggest that you use the 360-degree panning mode for
the full horror effect. The 360-degree swinging to and fro kept me
slightly off balance throughout the game -- great for total immersion. The
slide show works well but doesn't offer the right "edge" (or lack of it,
shall we say). If one is entering into the world of HP Lovecraft -- or
Shirley Jackson -- or Agustin Cordes -- then I say, take full advantage of
its style and panache while you can.

Most of the puzzles appear
so naturally within the parameters of the game world that they were over
and completed before I realized that they were puzzles to begin with.
Lovely. The inventory is very basic. If an item is usable then a “hand “
icon will appear and the item will automatically go into your inventory.
Right click to access it and right click again to close. Combinations can
be made within the inventory as well. Various items will become
highlighted if they are usable, whether it's the right item or not.
Remember that this is a game involving step-by-step logical deduction.
You don’t bounce from one obvious puzzle to the next. Things here do go
bump in the night but it's all very subtle...you get ensnared into a
conundrum quite before you realize it.... like quicksand it ensnares you,
and draws you downward to where the answer lies.

“I don't stay after dinner. Not after it begins to get dark.

We live in town, nine miles, so there won't be anyone around if you
need help.

We couldn't even hear you…no one could.

No one lives any nearer than town…no one will come any nearer than
that.
…in the night….in the dark.”Y

Conclusion

As to the question of Easter Eggs. Yes, I believe that there are many. I
found at least a dozen references to various adventure games and game
developers within the horror genre, as well as many allusions to authors
and movies; some were text references and others were visual – mostly
occurring in the beautiful artwork hung inside the mansion. One (because I
used a certain inventory object on a certain object in a certain place)
resulted in a comment from Michael which was so hysterical – I spilled my
merlot all over my keyboard…thank heavens I always keep a spare! And then
there are other references in a pictorial form for classic horror
adventures such as Shivers, and something a bit more
tangible for Amber in the garage...and in a section of the
basement…or maybe it was just my overactive imagination that made the
connection. Only Agustin and Alejandro can really say for sure.

As you get to know the character of Michael, you have to allow yourself to
think as he does -- as a mystery writer thinks. The clues are all there if
you know where to look for them. This is a game whose story will cause you
to think and ponder, similar to a good game of chess. Add an exquisite
underscore, unnerving sound effects by Cellar of Rats, hauntingly lyrical
pre-rendered backdrops by Alejandro Graziani, and reasonably logical
puzzles that sneak up on you, and we have the makings of a true horror
classic -- one to be cherished for years to come.

Would I recommend this game to my fellow gamers? Absolutely. Will I play
it again? You bet, for although I have no concrete information to confirm
this, I feel that there is an alternative ending to Scratches and hope to find it one day. If not…I am content to wander through
the strange halls of Blackwood Manor searching for the answer and
remembering that “we who walk there …walk alone.”